EU aviation regulators declared they won't extend a safety exemption allowing airlines to carry critical supplies in the passenger cabin to make up for capacity lost due to the Covid crisis, reports New York's FreightWaves.

"The logistical challenges that arose in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 crisis no longer exist to the same extent," said the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

EASA was one of the first civil aviation authorities to exempt airlines from requirements to submit a certificate for proposed structural modifications or changes to the approved use of aircraft systems.

The waivers allowed airlines to fly with light cargo on the seats, overhead bins, and storage areas.

The Federal Aviation Administration's exemption to carry cargo in the cabin when passengers aren't present expired at the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, air freight capacity has not recovered from the decrease in passenger traffic two years ago, but the market is no longer in crisis.

There is 14 per cent less cargo space on aircraft today than in 2019. Sixty per cent of the available space for cargo comes in the belly of passenger aircraft, with all-cargo jets providing the rest of the space.